“Shadow Queen, let them witness your true strength!”
Pride habitually shook her bell.
The bell’s sound was completely suppressed, but the contingency she had planted on the Shadow Queen did not need the bell’s sound to activate.
“Wuuu…”
The Shadow Queen let out a low, mournful cry.
The Witches outside the domain that had yet to be hunted down seemed to sense something.
They stopped their original actions in perfect unison, dragged their nails across their own throats, and committed suicide.
“Huh?”
Su Xiaocheng stared at the few Witches in front of her who had just killed themselves.
She froze in place.
“We still had to kill them slowly—it would’ve taken a while. Did they suddenly decide to end it all?”
“Let’s go help them, the say,” Xiaobai suggested.
Su Xiaocheng hesitated, worried she would drag everyone down again.
Xiaobai noticed her concern and added, “Just stay far away, the say.”
Su Xiaocheng was indeed worried about the central battlefield.
The azure light on her body gave her confidence, so she agreed.
“Mm. We’ll just watch from afar. Let’s circle around and get behind Xiaolu and the others.”
At the central battlefield, the clones’ power returned to the Shadow Queen herself after they took their own lives.
By sacrificing every clone to replenish her magic power, the Shadow Queen temporarily gained the ability to contend with Lu Yinxi—though she was still at a disadvantage.
During the song’s instrumental break, Lu Yinxi spoke quickly.
“Hold Pride for ten minutes. I’ll finish the Witch first.”
“Think you can hold me? You’d need the ability first,” Pride said, gaining a bit of confidence now that she no longer faced Lu Yinxi directly.
Click.
The shutter sound rang out.
Pride shielded herself with her bell in time, but Su Xiaowei’s attack struck her body directly.
The bell could not block it completely.
As Su Xiaowei tore the photograph, Pride felt as if her own body was about to be ripped apart like the photo.
Unfortunately, Su Xiaowei had only recently advanced and her magic power reserves were limited. She could not deliver a killing blow.
The photograph was only torn halfway when Su Xiaowei’s face turned deathly pale.
She gave up the attack.
She had a feeling that even if she forced it and exhausted all her magic power, she could only heavily wound Pride.
A heavily wounded Pride without Su Xiaowei’s protection would still pose a massive threat to the others.
The bell rang wildly.
The chaotic chimes pierced straight into the mind. Even Su Xiaocheng and Xiaobai, watching from afar, felt some effect.
Thanks to the protection of the Cozy Little Home, however, they simply found it extremely noisy.
Xiaobai took out two pairs of earplugs and handed one pair to Su Xiaocheng.
“Will this actually work?”
Su Xiaocheng asked doubtfully.
Using a physical object to resist magic felt strange, but she still put the earplugs in.
“These are special props, the say,” Xiaobai explained, already wearing her own pair.
Conceptually, earplugs countered the bell’s sound.
Since neither of them was Pride’s main target and they were far away, once the earplugs were in, the deafening chimes truly vanished.
“It actually works? That’s great.”
Su Xiaocheng breathed a sigh of relief.
If it hadn’t worked, they would have had to leave the battlefield entirely, or they would only add to Su Xiaowei’s burden.
Su Xiaowei’s magic power drained rapidly.
Holding on for ten minutes might be possible, but leaving Pride behind was absolutely out of the question.
“Don’t act like I’m not here.”
Youzi raised her flintlock pistol and aimed it at Pride.
Pride sneered.
“How amusing. You haven’t even grasped a domain yet, and you dare treat me as nonexistent?”
The Shadow Queen was pinned down by Lu Yinxi. Once the Shadow Queen burned out, Pride would undoubtedly die as well.
But that was ten minutes away.
Right now, if Pride wanted to run, no one could stop her.
“Let her go. There will be a next time,” Lu Yinxi’s somewhat anxious voice rang out.
“There won’t be a next time.”
Youzi thought of the people who had died in the Shadow Swarm attack half a month ago, of the townsfolk hunted down in the square, and of the silence that had fallen when she received news of Jia Yun’er’s death.
She made up her mind.
“Third time’s the charm. Today we settle this once and for all.”
A large handful of Witch’s Hearts flew out from Youzi’s hand.
The Maiden Heart absorbed the magic power within them.
A chipmunk appeared on Youzi’s shoulder and leaped fearlessly toward the Maiden Heart.
Pride nearly turned and fled at the sight, but an unusual aura made her stop.
She looked at the Maiden Heart, already half dimmed, and said, “Are you insane? Forcing your domain like this!”
Youzi gave a helpless smile.
“No choice. My talent really is pretty average. After all these years, I still couldn’t take that final step. However…”
Her tone shifted.
“I’ve guarded Anning City for so many years, and you’re the first to cause destruction on this scale again and again. If I just let you run, I’d be too embarrassed to keep calling myself a Magical Girl.”
A dreamlike candy house slowly took shape.
Every building material was made of sweet candy.
The walls were patchwork cartoon patterns of gummy candy, soft and bouncy to the touch.
A strawberry hard-candy table paired with cotton-candy chairs.
On the table sat a chocolate teapot and candy cups. In the corner, origami cranes folded from candy wrappers swayed gently in the breeze.
It was pure fairy-tale fantasy.
Youzi sat on a cotton-candy chair, sinking deeply into its softness.
She picked up a candy cup from the table, poured hot cocoa into it, took a satisfied sip, and closed her eyes in contentment.
Pride took silent, tiny steps backward, trying to slip away without disturbing her.
“I didn’t say you could leave,” Youzi said coldly.
Colorful candies seemed to receive an order.
They flew in from every corner of the candy house and assembled into a vibrant, multicolored candy cannon.
“Relying on a forcibly deployed domain is rather arrogant,” Pride said. She did not stop retreating. Her heart ached as she watched the cracks on the bell—already unrepaired—continue to widen. Ignoring the pain, she shook the bell with all her strength.
Youzi ignored Pride’s actions and continued savoring her hot cocoa.
The attacks were completely blocked by the Cozy Little Home.
Although Su Xiaowei’s offensive power was lacking, her defense was maxed out. Blocking Pride’s attacks cost her far less magic power than it cost Pride to attack.
Even if Pride were drained dry right now, she might not be able to break through the Cozy Little Home’s protection.
Seeing that attacking Youzi had no effect, Pride turned her assault toward the candy house instead.
The Cozy Little Home protected people; she could not harm Youzi directly, but tearing open the domain to find a path to survival was still possible.
The candy house wall was blasted open. Pride charged toward the gap.
“It was going to break anyway. Why waste the effort?”
Youzi carefully picked up a heart-shaped orange gummy, popped it into her mouth, and let the citrus fragrance spread across her tongue.
It reminded her of the first time she had ever tasted candy. “Back then… it tasted just like this.”
“This shot is called [Sweet Critical Hit].”
Boom!
The candy cannon roared.
Pride hurled her bell.
It collided with the cannon shell, producing a violent explosion.
The shockwave slammed Pride into the wall.
She spat out a mouthful of blood.
The bell fell to the side.
Two huge new cracks now marred its once-beautiful surface.
“It’s over,” Youzi said, swallowing the gummy with a touch of reluctance.
The candy cannon roared once more, blasting a massive hole in the candy house wall.
When the colorful smoke cleared, Pride had already vanished.